Chasing the Precursors
by Starspike7
Summary: Chase is awoken one night by his little sister after having a bad dream. As he tries to comfort her, he weaves a tale about a hero that is not constrained by the beliefs of the real world. He calls the man in the story, The Sage. But after a tragic accident that leaves him with life-threatening eco addiction, Chase is forced to become The Sage to save not only himself but Mali too.
1. Let Me Tell You a Story

**So, this is a short project I worked on a while ago and some of my friends on here talked me into posting it and seeing if there was an audience for it. If you love it, let me know by reviewing, following, favoring or PMing me about it. That's usually what drives me to keep writing these things and trust me that this story will need support.**

**Oh, and one more thing. This takes place about eight years before Jak arrives in Haven and Ten years before he escapes prison. So, this is not about the Dark Warrior program.**

"Chase! there are metal heads in my rooooooooobwaaahahahahahahahahhaa."

Chase struggled to open up his eyes and slowly took in his surroundings. He was on something soft, his futon and there was a dripping sound, in the kitchen. Chase was in the kitchen and dining room adjacent to the bathroom next to Mali's room. In Mali's room, Mali was crying.

Chase planted his left hand on the bed to balance himself as he sat up. In mid-motion, Chase's arm rubbed up against something soft. When he looked over he saw a girl with brunette hair wearing one of his shirts. Chase scooted away from her and threw his legs over to the carpet, knocking bottles over in the process.

Picking up one bottle, he got up and walked toward Mali's room, "I'm coming Mali, what's wrong?"

The lights shot on in Mali's room temporarily blinding him. His eyesight slowly came back to see Mali was huddled in her covers with one of Chase's tools in hand, "I had a bad dream."

He turned left and smashed into Mali's dresser, "Ow, damn it. Mali, where's your chair?"

Mali pointed next to her bed, "Right there."

Chase pushed off the dresser and sort or walked, sort of fell into the chair, "Alright, what do I have to do to get you back to sleep?"

Mali shut her eyes tight and pulled the covers over her head, "Tell me a story."

Grabbing a book off the shelf next to Mali's bed the tired drunk began to read, "Our almighty Baron once stood in the bowls of an unnamed island owned by the metal hea-"

"No! I want you to tell me a story. Not one of those ones", Mali said with spite in her voice.

He looked down at the bottle in his hand and read it, Sage's #1 Gin. He took the first word and began to make up a story, "Have I ever told you the story of The Sage?"

Mali pulled the covers down so her nose was just peaking over the edge, "No, is he mean?"

Chase let his eyes shut for a minute and began to float away but quickly caught himself, "No, no he's not mean. He's a hero."

Mali's eyes widened, "A hero? What's that?"

Chase's eyes widened and he realized just how much of a gap there was between him and his sister. It was hard but he could recall times when his parents told him stories of heroes. The boy and the ottsel had taught him that even in a hopeless situation you must stay fearless. The hero and the giant, the man who took on a boulder throwing lurker. Even the Shadow, a man who held off the metal heads.

He slammed back a big swig of Gin and the burn woke him up all the way, "Aaaaaaah Hero! A man who stands up in hopeless situation and becomes a legend!"

"Quiet down you fucking kids!"

Chase looked up to the ceiling and stood up, "Shut up Mr. Anders. I'm telling my sister a story."

There was silence for a few seconds before Mali spoke, "I don't think Mr. Anders likes heroes."

He sat back and took another drink before continuing, "Forget Mr. Anders. The Sage was a great hero. He lived long ago."

Mali cocked her head to the side, "How long?"

Chase took a split second to think before continuing, "Long enough, anyway, the Sage lived in a time when there was civil unrest. They would take away any channeler they could find for experiments causing them to stifle and hide their talents."

Mali's eyes widened in concern, "That's mean, who was doing it?"

there ran several names through his head. The lord, the master, the controller, "The duke. The Duke was the man who ordered his armies to take all channelers captive. No one stood to oppose him except-"

"The Sage", Mali beamed with a smile.

Chase snapped his fingers and pointed at Mali, "Bingo. Now the Sage was a channeler himself. He was able to channel blue eco through his body and us it in amazing ways."

"What could he do?"

"He ran every method he knew by which he could charge himself with blue eco an then everything he could do with it. After he had everything he just multiplied the abilities by awesome and continued, "The Sage could absorb eco from and electrical outlet and even raw eco from wires. He was just a man but a man's man of the manliest qualities. He stood at six-feet-nine-inches and had a notoriously imposing stature. The Sage was able to use blue eco in ways never even seen."

"Like what?"

"Well", Chase didn't let himself pause for more than a moment, "he could use his powers as a living battery like a regular blue eco channeler and power all sorts of objects. He could power an entire fleet of zoomers. He could amplify and use the eco within something to make it work better and faster."

Mali beamed forward with eyes that showed amazement only a child could have, "Like your jet-board?!"

He pointed at Mali with two fingers, "exactly, like my jet-board. Now do you want to hear about him or not?"

Mali pulled the covers up and snuggled herself under them, "Tell me about him."

Chase took another swig of his Gin and held up one finger, "Okay, but you have to go to bed after I am done telling you the story. And only one story."

Mali crossed her arms and huffed, "Fine."

"Okay", he shouted the word immediately bringing Mali back into a world of wonder and inquiry she had before. "This was to be The Sage's first night of standing against The Duke. It was winter and snow covered the streets of The Sage's dear city he cared so much about."

"What was the cities name?" Mali said gripping her sheets.

Chase panicked and just thought backwards, "Nevah, his city was Nevah. It was a beautiful city where the people and buildings all were natural and alive but that was when it was still young. As a dark army marched across the land Nevah was about to be over taken and the first person that came a long and told them that they could be saved was put in charge. This man was the Duke and for many years the Duke was a good upstanding man that cared about the people and did all he could to keep the people safe. He even had a wall erected by his own men to keep the city safe. The Duke promised that the wall was impenetrable and the people allowed him to carry on with whatever business he needed to."

Mali cocked her head and was confused, "I thought you said the The Duke was a bad guy."

He took another swig and sat forward, "He is, or will be. Just let me finish. Now, The Duke believed that the wall was impenetrable but even precursor metal can have cracks in it."

"No it can't."

Chase huffed, "Yes, it can."

She shook her head, "No, my teacher at school said it can't. It is the only metal with-"

"I can go lay back down and go to bed if you want to contemplate the meaning of that saying", Chase said annoyed.

Mali pulled the covers up over her nose and whispered, "I'll be quiet."

Chase rolled his eyes but got right back into the intensity he was carrying before, "The Duke made a plan to take channelers and begin using them for experiments."

"What kind of experiments?" She questioned from under her covers.

"Experimental experiments", Chase said continuing, "these experiments were bad and the people began to be afraid that The Duke was running wild with power but nobody could do anything do to fear that The Duke would throw them outside the wall."

"Until the sage showed up." Mali said peeking out of her covers even more.

"Yes, The Sage was just an ordinary channeler and he was to be sent off for the experiments once the next subject died. Now, The Sage knew that to save himself, he had to incite a rebellion. To do that, he had to become a symbol to the people."

She got a look of dejection, "So he was a hero out of self-preservation?"

He let his face fall into shock at what he said and froze for a good three minutes before pulling it back together, "Yes, he did at first. Normally, a hero's call to action is a selfish desire or need for individual gain that a hero begins their journey."

"But how is he a hero?"

Chase finished off the last of his bottle and began to lose his control over his voice, "A hero is not defined by his reason but by his ability to rise to the occasion. A legend is born in hopeless situation."

"Well, then tell me about it."

"Fine, so The Sage dawned his outfit and took to is first night. Now, it was a cold winter's night, the first snow had just fallen on Nevah and there was a rebellion that needed to be ignited. The Sage stood up for the first time that night, he knew all that rebellion needed was a single spark. To do this, The Sage would need to be a symbol to the people, a living legend that everyone could get behind and follow to freedom. He planned to do this by…"

"By what?"

"By saving someone, he needed to get his name out there. Let people know of someone that could help them that wasn't the Duke or his forces. He found a way to conceal his identity with his hood and a pair of goggles. Then, he began to trek around the city in search of injustice. His search rewarded him with opportunity."

"What's oppanuitnty?"

"Opportunity, it's a chance to do something. Now, he saw a woman walking down an alley that led to nowhere with a man close behind her. The man followed the woman's every step into the alley where he pulled out a blaster pistol on her."

"What does the Sage do?" She interjected.

"Okay, one more interruption and I am going back to bed", Chase said annoyed.

Mali Just pursed her lips and sank down even deeper, "Okay."

"The Sage saw the man pull out his blaster and moved quickly. He sprang forward using blue eco to boost his speed and gave a hard kick to the man's leg causing him to crumple. The Sage then brought his fist down on the man and started rapidly punching the man until he passed out. The Sage then turned to the lady and gave her just a nod before taking off back into the night. He knew that he had just started it. The spark was lit and the rebellion was in motion."

"How?"

Chase stood up and hit the lights, "That, dear sister, is a story for tomorrow night."

Mali rolled over and let out a sigh of exhaustion, "Okay, good night Chase."

"Good night Mali", Chase said as he left the room.

He left Mali's room and entered back into the dining/kitchen/washing room on his way to his futon in the center of it. Chase arrived and the futon and just collapsed onto it, forgetting that there was a woman lying in the bed too. Chase's head landed right next to hers causing them to smack together.

He quickly rolled the opposite of the woman and clutched his now throbbing forehead, "Damn it!"

He felt a hand fall on his shoulder as the girl next to him spoke, "You're very accident prone aren't you?"

Her voice was heavenly and it gave Chase a feeling of security, "Uh, no, sorry. I just told my sister a bed time story because she woke up with a nightmare."

The girl rolled Chase over to get a look at his face, "Of course, nobody could miss your shouting about a hero that never existed."

Chase couldn't see the woman's face, so he brought his hand up and brushed her hair over her ear, "Hey, a hero that never existed is not constrained by the laws that we make for heroes to live up to. The Sage can be whatever I want him to be."

The woman had blue eyes and that was the only feature that Chase could see. The rest was a black silhouette in the night, "Uh huh, so what time do you have work today?"

Chase looked above the exit door where his clock hung, "its 2:30am so in about seven-and-a-half hours."

The woman brought up a finger and the tip lit up green, "Then you probably shouldn't go with a big red spot on our forehead."

The woman put her finger to his forehead and he felt the healing green eco repairing any damage that had occurred, "You're a channeler?"

She smiled but that was the only other feature besides her eyes that Chase could make out in the green glow produced by her finger, "Of course, it's how we met, remember?"

Chase brought his left hand up and began channeling the blue eco he had through it so that small zaps of electricity began jumping out of his arm, "I am a little too drunk and tired to remember anything right now."

The woman drew her hand away from Chase's forehead and kissed him on the cheek, "I figured as much. My name is Angela in case you forgot."

Chase rolled over and put his arm around Angela as they lay in the bed, "I didn't forget that."

"Sure you didn't", her tone along with her name had begun to jog Chase's memory but he let it die and fell into his sleep again.

Chase was sitting in a familiar room. It was grey, bland and had a desk in the middle. There was a man in a lab coat and glasses across from him looking over charts before he closed it and put his hands together.

"Now, Chase, your parents have been 'drafted' into the Krimson Guard due to their unique channeling abilities. As you must know, this is a great honor to be handpicked by the Baron himself for his forces."

He sat back in the chair and weaved his fingers together, "Fuck you."

The man put his hands up in self-defense and kept his voice monotone. "We don't have any plans to take you, yet. We here in the Guard realize that it wouldn't be wise to separate you and your dear sister."

Chase felt his foot begin to tap as his emotional control loosened and the blue eco in his body began to run wild. "That's just because your damn orphanages are full of channelers' kids."

"Look, Chase, you are going to be allowed to stay with your sister as long as she is too young to take care of herself. After that", the man grew a grotesque smile, "we will be in touch."

Chase stood up and grabbed his chair for a weapon. "What are you talking about? Unique channeling abilities, hand selected, and where the hell will they be!?"

The man stood up and picked up his papers, "That will be all for now Chase."

Chase swung his chair at the man but it was blocked by someone and the man pulled a gun on Chase, "That will be all Chase."

He felt himself get dragged backwards and his vision cut out.

Chase's eyes shot open, and the smell of hiphog bacon filled his nostrils. When he opened his eyes he was met with pure, unstoppable light that filled his vision and welcomed him like no lover he ever had. Soon, it faded away and all that Chase was left with was the sight of his crummy one bedroom apartment and Mali sitting at the bar eating breakfast.

"Who-?"

"I did", Angela cut him off from over by the door. "You were sleeping and I thought you would need the break after waking up in the middle of the night. I have to go now though, works starts at eight and I need to be there in twenty minutes. Is there a hover-bus that runs by here?"

He sat up and cracked his neck. "You already missed it."

"Oh shit", Angela hit the open-door button and began out the door.

Chase's hand shot up real quick to stop her. "Wait, I can drive you there!"

She stopped and turned around. "How? Not on that hoverboard you were riding around on last night."

"Nope, I got a class A zoomer", he said with a wink.

Angela let out a huff. "You have a zoomer and were bar hoping on a jet board?"

Chase stood up out of the bed and grabbed his clothes from the coffee table that was beside the couch. "It's a racing zoomer. I can't just rip it out for bar hopping. Plus, if I wreck it my friend will kill me."

"You're kidding me, you are a racer?"

He buttoned his pants up and pulled his shirt over his head. "No, just a tester. I am the one that tries the equipment that racers use and then figure out what is wrong."

She bit her lip and began to step out the door. "Yeah, I will call you later. There is no way I am getting on a zoomer that is still in testing."

Chase kicked himself for telling her he was a tester, "Yeah, okay, bye."

She was gone before he finished his sentence and he was alone in the apartment with Mali. "You think she's going to call?"

Mali had a mouth full of food but managed to say, "I think she will."

Chase nodded and grabbed his socks from on top the TV that was on the opposite side of the room from the couch. He slipped them on real quick and noticed that his goggles and bandanna were on the stand too. This confused Chase, even when he was drunk he managed to put them away with his jacket.

His eyes widened in worry causing him to run over to the closet and fling the doors open, "Damn it!"

"What's wrong?" Mali questioned as she got down from the bar.

He fell against the wall and slid down. "I lost my fire retardant jacket. Ellise warned me that if I lost it I would be fired for sure."

"You didn't lose it", Mali said.

Chase turned around and looked at her with urgency. "Where is it?"

"Ellise called your communicator this morning. Look", Mali pointed at the communicator sitting on the table.

He hit the orange eye and it floated off the ground, "Is it on? Oh bloody hell, Chase? Are you there? Whatever, I have the jacket finished. Get over to the track as soon as possible, Nero promised us a lot of money if we can get the product into beta stage by tomorrow."

"Oh shit", he said as he grabbed the communicator and his wallet. "Mali, I have to go. What time does school start?"

She already had her jacket on and was following Chase. "Eight o'clock."

Mali took his hand and they ran to the garage. Quickly grabbing his jet-board off the table, Chase prepped to drive the Class A. Mali got a side cart they made from a scrapped cruiser and hooked it to the side.

He threw on his face cover and goggles as he jumped into the driver's seat. "You ready?"

She was already in the cart and sitting with her bag in between her legs. "We're going to be late."

He powered up the zoomer and hit the garage door opener. "No we aren't!"

As soon as the garage lifted high enough Chase hit the boost button and shot out into street. Chase threw the wheel to the left and barely missed a Krimzon guard but he was heading off in the wrong direction. Instead of heading toward the farm district, he was heading toward the entrance to the arena.

"Chase, we're going the wrong way!"

He hard turned right and did a U-turn into the water way, "Thank you, my human GPS."

She stuck her tongue out at Chase but he did a quick pitch causing her to lose her balance and fall back in her seat, "Ouch."

"Sorry Mali, there was a aliduck." Chase said trying not to laugh.

She just righted herself and then sat back in her seat with a sour look. Paying no attention to it, He saw their exit ramp ahead and readied for a tough maneuver. He would have to catch the ramp just right and hit the jump jets in order to clear the guard rail. Normally, one would just switch hover zones but class-As only had one hover zone, meaning they could only stay at ground level.

Chase adjusted their angle by forty-five percent and shot up the ramp. He managed to time the button just right and activated the jump jets clearing the guard rail. The boost and his current speed sent them flying over the pedestrians and right next to Mali's school entrance.

"Two minutes to spare, ah yeah." Mali just shook her head and climbed out of the side cart.

"See you later Chase."She said trying to not maintain eye contact.

He raised an eyebrow and began to point it out but stopped when he noticed a young kid walking toward her. Instead, he just smiled, sat back in his zoomer, and then revved the engine as he took off to the race track. Luckily, his future wasn't dependent on the time he arrived so he was able to stop back at his apartment and dropped off the side cart before getting to the track.

Immediately upon arriving he was met by and angry woman with brunette hair, blue eyes, and grease covering her face, "So... Not to sound like an overly attached girlfriend or anything but... Where the hell have you been, exactly? I've been waiting an HOUR."

Chase just smiled and walked past her. "Well, Mali woke me up in the middle of the night because she had a bad dream. So I read her a story for a little while and I slept in because of it."

"I swear, you need to let Mali take some time to grow up. What's she going to do if big brother isn't there to save the day." Ellise shot as she caught up with him.

"Well when you're raising Mali, you can do what you want but I raise her how I see fit. That means being her hero and living up to her expectations." He said before they finally entered the arena.

Looking out Chase saw that it was set for race track three and there were gates channeling blue eco every one-hundred yards or so. At the starting line, one of his fellow testers was on a zoomer and giving a thumbs up. There was the short five second countdown and then he was off, catching more and more speed as he went through each gate.

Ellise leaned next to Chase and pointed at one of the gates, "That's what I called you about this morning. The other mechanics and I have been here all night setting those up for testing today. Go get your gear out of the locker room."

"Aye aye, captain", Chase said giving a mock salute.

Ellise just turned around and rolled her eyes at Chase's inability to give a damn. Soon as she was gone, he was off to the locker room on the opposite side of the arena. There he went to his locker which was three from the left side on the side farthest from the door.

He spun his locker's combination in and opened it to see his electric blue jacket; it seemed to be completely untouched despite Ellise saying she tinkered with it. Chase just gave a shrug and threw it on. Then, upon lacing it up he noticed that there was a small watch device in arm about halfway down his for arm. He tapped it twice and it lit up blue. The meter on it filled up about a fourth of the way and Chase realized that it was an eco meter.

Chase then put on his facemask and goggles before leaving and heading to the observation center. There Mali, Nero, The Baron, and one of the other Mechanics were viewing the man race around the stadium. He was going faster than Chase knew the vehicles could. Looking over at the Baron and Nero, both of them looked pleased.

Nero was a tall man with blond hair, and overly muscular body, and an affinity for racing. If it could go fast, hovered, and could carry him, he would own it. That also meant he was the Krimson guard's representative to race in the city circuits.

"Well done, I love it. This year's races will be the best yet. Not to mention the fastest", Nero said almost ready to jump out the glass and on to the track.

The Baron nodded next to him. "Yes, it will definitely make for an interesting year."

Ellise nodded with relief. "Thank you sir, we worked very hard on this years tracks."

"You all did very well, now tell the driver to stop so Nero can get a go at the track." He said giving a sense of superiority to his voice.

"Right", Ellise hit the transmit button. "That's enough Samual. Bring it in."

Samual's voice came back in panicked. "Uh, that might be a problem. I can't stop."

Ellise froze for a second but moved quicker than ever once she regained herself. "What's going on? Can you tell from where you are?"

"Mechanic, what's going on", The Baron questioned with a hint of anger in his voice.

"I'm sure it's just a small fixable glitch sir", Ellise said in her panic.

Samual buzzed back in. "Uh, it looks like the power intake is too off put by the use."

Chase noticed the Baron's hands clench. "What does that mean?"

She began using all the controls trying to find the right switch. "It means that if he stops or slows down, the zoomer will explode."

Praxis smashed his fist into his hand. "Well just turn off the power to the gates."

Chase saw Ellise begin to freak out as she continued to try and work the machines. "I tried, there is enough blue eco in them that they have become self sustaining. There is no way to stop him."

Chase thought up a quick contingency plan. "Ellise, I could head out onto the track and pull the blue eco from enough of the gates that you could divert power from other gates and make them lose their ability to self sustain."

The Baron turned around to Chase, "Hhmm, you think you could channel that much eco?"

"No Chase, you would risk eco addiction. We can't have that, I know we talked about it earlier but I cannot be the one to watch Mali.' She said without turning around.

Chase pulled his mask up over his face and goggles down. "I don't see much of a choice."

Before she could say anything else he walked over to the elevator in the observation deck and hit the down button. The elevator went down and put him right on the starting line. The first gate was about twenty feet away and Samual shot through it right as Chase touched ground.

"Alright Chase, try and expel the eco as you take it in", Ellise said from the head set build into his goggles.

Chase hit the button on the side, "Right."

He activated what little blue eco he had and ran over to the first gate, there was a basic wall of blue eco as the bolts started at the top of the pillar and made their way down. When Samual shot through the gate the eco would all focus into his zoomer. Chase stuck his hand into the eco line and began intake it.

Like when Samual went through the wall, all the electricity went into Chase's hand and he saw his eco meter shoot up to full and Chase was immediately risking eco addiction. He couldn't stop though; he had to take in all of the eco the gate could offer. He had to pull the eco in faster than it was giving him. In doing so he was able to cause the gate to shut down.

Blinding pain shot through him as he did so but he couldn't stop. Chase used the eco to move faster than he did before and he made it to the next eco gate before his meter could go down even a tenth. He wasn't able to wait for his meter to reach empty. He shoved his hand into the new gate and pulled all the eco out of it too.

This time the pain caused him to stumble and fall to one knee. His heart rate was elevated beyond points that would cause a regular person's heart to explode. He was breathing as fast as a Vulcan could fire rounds. He was shaking and couldn't feel his hands.

"Chase, stop. You can't go on. You are risking serious eco addiction and possibly heart failure if you go any faster." Ellise screamed over the comm.

Chase just stood up and began running to the next gate. "Ellise, have I ever told you about the Sage?"

"The what", she said confused over the mike.

"The Sage, he is a hero. A man who stands up in hopeless situation and becomes a legend." he said as he arrived at the next gate.

Chase shoved his hand in the gate and began absorbing its energy as Ellise spoke to him. "Chase, you're not making any sense."

He knew this was his last gate, there was no way that he could do another. "The situation is hopeless, and I am standing up."

There was a white flash and Chase lost all feeling in his legs.


	2. Take Me to the Blood Diamond

**Hey, here is the new chapter for this story. Thank you to my one subscriber and my reviewer. This story is going to go places and there are some people that you are reading about now that aren't who they seem. One thing, don't expect chapters to come out this fast. They are most likely going to be once a month. The only reason that this one came out so fast was that I wrote the last chapter three months ago and just uploaded two weeks ago.**

Chase struggled to open his eyes after he was woken up by the faint beeping of a heart monitor. From what he could see, he was in a hospital bed, and being monitored by a nurse that stood over him. Then, over by the door was a crimson figure, female to be precise.

There was a pinch in his wrist where the orderly was touching him. It took him a second to realize that she was withdrawing blood.

After a second, the pinching stopped, and the orderly brought the syringe up to her face. It was blood for sure but it was glowing blue like it was filled with eco. Chase searched his drowsy mind for the answer and remembered what he had done.

"Ah", was all Chase could get out of his mouth in trying to ask the orderly why his blood was like that.

The orderly looked to him and then twisted a small knob up by his head. Instantly, he eyes felt heavier but he kept them open. "Why is my blood like that?" It was hoarse and scratchy but he got it out.

The orderly cocked her head to the side and then twisted the knob the other way before leaving the room.

Once the door was closed the crimson figure stepped away from it and walked to his bedside. Once she got in close, chase could tell that she had a mask on. "Chase? How did you end up here?"

The voice was familiar to him and it made him smile but he couldn't get the words out. That was until he started feeling more awake than he had just seconds ago. It felt like his system was on overdrive as he began flexing his fingers and sat up.

"Gates, eco gates."

The woman lifted her mask and Chase saw blue, worried, eyes. "What do you mean?"

"Angela? You're a guard?"

Angela rolled her eyes and gave him a stern look. "Yes, I am. So you really don't remember what happed four days ago?"

Chase's daze was wearing off but pain sat in where numbness was before. "No, I… Can we just… God, my arm hurts."

Angela stood up and walked over to the door. "The Baren personally put me on guard duty for you. Don't understand why but he seems to like you."

He clutched at his right arm. "Maybe it's my stunning good looks."

"Please, you are an eight on your best day. Right now, you are a four."

The tired patient was about to say something else but there was a knock on the door and as soon as Angela opened it, Mali rushed in and hopped on the bed. "Chase, Chase, Chase!"

"What, what, what?"

Mali pulled her back pack around to her front, and began sifting through it. "I have been sleeping at Ellise's house since you have been staying here at the port medical center and we made you stuff."

He tried to smile but was more confused than ever. "The PMC?"

"The Baron had you taken here because these people know how to deal with eco related accidents or at least that's what Ellise said." Chase's eyes drifted over and saw Ellise walking in the door.

"The gates?"

She shook her head with a chuckle. "We fixed and got them spread out. Nero has been on the race track all day trying to sprint the course like you did."

Ellise's last words made him perk up a bit. "Nero, the racer who is all about speed, is not as fast as me?"

She paused for a moment and then tapped Mali on the shoulder. "Hey, Mali, why don't you take some money out of my purse and get us some snacks."

Mali smiled at Chase and then took off out the door. "She has to be the funniest little girl I know."

Ellise looked at him with worry in her eyes. "I talked to the doctors, and there some bad news."

"What is it?"

She punched him in the shoulder and had an angry look on her face. "You have the most severe case eco addiction that he has ever seen."

"So what does that mean?" He kept his tone casual with her although there was a pit forming in his stomach.

"Chase, eco is now your life line. You run out, you die."

His stomach churned and jaw clenched making his next words come out with a sense of anger. "Give me a few minutes, please." He didn't mean to be a jerk when he said it but it came out that way.

"Okay, do you want everyone out?" As Ellise said it she glanced over at Angela.

Angela opened the door and shook her head with her mask down. "I'm not allowed to leave him."

Ellise glared at her all the way until she stepped out the door. "Well, didn't know you had a girlfriend."

Chase looked up at her with a raised eyebrow. "Uh, that's my mechanic on top of my best friend. There is nothing romantic between us."

She pulled her mask up and grabbed a chair from the corner to sit by the door. "Really, strange seeing as how you don't strike me as someone who would be 'just friends' with a girl."

Laying back, he found his reply. "Well, she and I have known each other for about five years now."

"Seems like you might have missed some hints."

Chase shook his head and moved his arm, making a clanking sound with something on his wrist. He looked at it and upon noticing it, he felt the needle that it dug into his skin. His first reaction was to hold it up to Angela with a confused look.

She walked over and made him put his arm down. "It's an eco restraint. It keeps your body from feeding off your eco."

"And if I took it off?"

"You would undoubtedly feel a rush of eco that comes from the charge. Then, you would have say five minutes before your heart exploded or the over-drive would shut you down."

The knowledge made him swallow. "So, not a lot of options for a eco addict, huh?"

Angela leaned back and put her legs up on his bed. "You're not an eco addict. I've dealt with eco addicts. Usually, by slamming them into a wall and making them return what they stole. You are addicted to eco. That means you can die if you run out and die if you use it too much."

"So, I die if I use it and die if I run out… Great."

"Ha, where's that enthusiasm that you had at three in the morning?"

"It comes and goes. So, mind if I ask you a question?"

"Shoot. Not literally though, I'd have to kill you. You know, the Baron has been giving us the right the shoot for more and more crimes."

"Okay, why did you leave so fast in the morning when I said I could give you a ride on my zoomer?"

Angela looked a bit disturbed by the question and pulled her feet off the bed. "Well, I maybe have said some stuff to the guard so that guys would stop harassing me all the time."

"Hehehe, you told them you are a lesbian."

After putting her mask down, she stood up and walked to the door obviously flustered. "Your 'friend' will probably want in now."

She opened the door and Ellise barged in with Mali on her tail. "Chase, I swear to god I will hunt you down and gut you if you sneak out tonight."

"Huh, what?"

Mali ran up and jumped on his bed again. "I told Ellise about how you snuck out of the hospital last time you broke your arm."

"Thanks Mali, but what did I say about that story?"

She thought for about it. "That is was a secret. But my teacher told me it's okay to include friends in on our secrets."

"What?" Chase sat up too fast and hurt his stomach. "Why would she say that?"

"Because one of my friends wanted me to tell them the story you told me."

"The Sage?" He glanced at Angela to see her shaking her head. "What did you tell him?"

"Everything you told me and when I was done, him and I drew this." Mali reached in her pocket and handed him the folded piece of paper she had in her pocket.

He took it and gave Mali a skeptical look. "You drew the Sage?"

Mali nodded vigorously and had a sparkle in her eye that Chase had never seen before. "Yeah, we imagined a cooler outfit than just a goggle with a hood."

Upon opening the paper, Chase felt his eyes widen at the idea. It wasn't just okay, it was good. As in good for someone that was his age.

She drew The Sage with a blue jacket that looked tight around the sleeves and waist. He still had the goggles but with a yellow ski mask that stopped at the bottom of the goggles. For pants, the sage had black pant and boots, mimicking the Krimson Guard standard issue but they were blue with yellow for armor parts. Last, she gave him white hair that stood on end but with a definite blue glow.

"Why does he have hair like this?"

Mali giggled a little. "Because, Shawn said that we should copy your hair and I said that we should make it stand on end."

"You know, you act like you are young but I am convinced that you know too much for your age."

Ellise pulled something out of her pocket and made it levitate in her hand using blue eco. "Probably because she's a blue eco channeler. Types like us have always matured quickly when it comes to book smarts."

At the mention of channeling Mali got sad and laid down on Chase's bed by his legs. "I don't want to be a blue eco channeler."

"Why not?" He was somewhat hurt by her words.

"I want to use yellow eco. Ellise took me to the market area today and we saw this guy that was using it to fly by blasting it out of his hands."

Chase shot Ellise an angry look. "You took her to the market? What the fu… hell?"

Ellise dropped the sphere in her hand and then began wiping some of the grease off her face. "Yeah, my parents were over and we figured that it would be a good idea if we took her to see some of the performers at the bazzar."

"Ellise, you know I don't want Mali visiting the bazzar."

She shook her head at him. "No, you don't want to visit the bazzar. You never said anything before about Mali visiting it."

"Well, I have good reason for not wanting to visit it."

Ellise began floating the sphere in her hand again. "Chase, you were beaten up once in middle school. I don't get why that has stuck in your mind for so long."

"Because, nobody there helped me. People walked past while I got the shit beat out of me."

Mali jumped off the bed and put her hands facing the floor, making a noise like a rocket as she did so. As soon as she hit the she began running around acting like she was flying. Her playing eventually got everyone in the room to begin laughing at her and her funny little games.

"Okay, Mali. We better get going and let your brother rest."

Chase shot Ellise a look that said 'why.'

She walked over and took Mali's hand to begin walking out the door. "Because, it's ten-thirty P.M. You have been sleeping for almost five days."

He looked at Mali one last time and caught her as she climbed up for a goodbye hug. "Get better quick okay."

Chase held her tight and whispered in her ear, "I'll be out of here by the end of the week."

After that, Mali got down from the bed and ran over to Ellise to pull her out the door but she shrugged Mali off. "Uh, can I please have a minute with him?"

The way she said it and looked at Angela made her roll her eyes and lead Mali out the door before stepping out. Ellise then walked over to Chase and sat on the bed reaching back into her jacket and pulled out a bottle. Then, on her other side she pulled out two glasses and filled them both.

"Well, you weren't there for when the gates finally worked and we always share a drink every time something works so…" Ellise held one out to him.

Chase took it and clinked it together with her glass. "You know, Angela doesn't believe that we are just friends."

They both drank and Ellise laughed a bit and looked down at her glass running her finger around it. "Yeah, imagine if we did get to be something more."

"Ellise?"

She sat up and took his glass placing them both in her pocket and then handed him the bottle. "I have to go now. Mali is okay at my house but if you have somewhere else you want her to stay I understand. Don't let the doctors catch that bottle. They say you aren't allowed to drink but a friend of mine here said that they just say it so they can confiscate any alcoholic beverages they can fine here."

He took the bottle and slipped it under his pillow. "Thanks, I'll see you tomorrow then."

She nodded and began wiping some more grease off her face before turning to the door and leaving and letting Angela in. She looked a bit displeased at what happened and Chase could feel the stink eye from behind her mask.

"So, why did she need me to step out?"

He looked at the window and saw all the city lights on outside. "Promise you won't tell the doctors?"

She crossed her arms and leaned on her left leg. "I'm here to protect you, not to be your baby sitter for the doctors."

Chase grabbed the bottle of alcohol and held it up to show her. "My _friend_ gave this to me."

"Uh huh, that's believable." Angela gestured to the bathroom on my left side. "You have been asleep for a few days and I'm not gonna lie. You really could use a shower or wait for the orderly to come and give you a sponge bath."

"I wouldn't mind a woman washing me."

"It's a guy."

After pushing himself up, Chase threw his legs over the side of the bed and stood up. Immediately, all the wires and cords attached to him pulled tight. He shot a quick look for help to Angela and she easily obliged. Soon, he was free and walking for the first time in days.

The first thing he realized was that it really had been four days. Once he was on his feet, the blood rushed down and he almost fell to the ground out of dizziness. Luckily, Angela was still close enough that she grabbed him by the arm and slung it up over her shoulder to help balance him.

"Need some help getting to the bathroom?"

Smiling, Chase stood himself up fully to that he wasn't leaning on Angela. "Well, I guess I could use your help in the shower."

There was a sparkle in Angela's eye but she shook her head. "No, I'm working right now. You will need to do it by yourself."

He took a step forward and found that his legs worked. "Okay then, I should be fine." He turned around and pulled her face up so he could see her blue eyes again. "But, you could come in and protect me from falling in the shower."

She shrugged his arm off and let it drop. "Just get in there."

Chase stepped forward and then looked down at his arm one last time. "What about the bracelet thing?"

"The eco restraint is water proof, scratch proof, and shiv proof."

The last part made him raise his eyebrow. "Uh, shiv proof?"

"We use them for prisoners that are eco channelers. You can't stop them from sneaking it in but you can prevent them from using it."

"Okay, now I know I can use it to stop someone from shanking me."

Angela didn't say anything and left him to get into the bathroom for a shower.

The bathroom had a toilet on the left then a sink in the middle dividing it from the shower. The window that took the right side of the bathroom was what really caught his eye though. Looking out it, he saw a pipe that went right by the window and down to the street two levels below.

Ever since Chase was a child, he wanted to be a hero but his parents always told him that a hero doesn't sneak off. Yet, here he was again, looking down another drain pipe with a smile on his face, ready to jump out and go hit the town. He had problems getting up a little while ago, but now he felt like he was at sixty-five percent and a bar he had been meaning to hit was right down the street.

First, Chase walked over to the door and opened it. "Angela, could you run me my clothes?"

It was a moment but her hand reached in with a blue jacket, white undershirt, black pants, his shoes, and for some reason his goggles. "Here you go."

"Why are my goggles in the bundle with my shoes?"

There was a slight pause before she spoke with a huffed voice. "Just leave the shower on when you sneak out. If a doctor comes I can turn him away by telling him you are lying in the shower and enjoying the water or something."

"How did you-?"

She cut him off before he could finish his sentence. "If you come back tonight I'll explain how I knew you would be doing this."

He took his clothes and began putting them on along with the decision to put his goggles in his pocket. It wasn't hard to get down the piper after he had his clothes on. Chase leaned out the window and grabbed the pipe with both hands in one motion followed by hugging both sides with his feet. He slid all the way down the pipe and to the ground within seconds.

Following his feet touching the ground, he began looking around rapidly to see who was watching him. All the eyes in the crowd are him were more interested in where they were going instead of him. That made it easy for him to just put his hands in his pockets and then walk off down the street.

The cursed eco channeler made his way down the walks and made his first priority a bar that was on the edge of the industrial section. It was housed right by two eco towers that were side by side. The place had a glass of a red eco that was pouring on a diamond apply named 'Blood Diamond'.

Chase stepped inside the bar and was introduced to the smell of smoke and alcohol that filled most bars in Haven. He walked his way up to the bar and took a stool. Within a few minutes the bartender was in front of him leaning on the bar.

"The hell? Looks like you shit rainbows, man."

His eyes made a glance at his hand and he noticed that his hand was glowing. "Look, I have had a bad day. I absorbed a whole bunch of eco and now I have eco addiction."

"…Since when does eco addiction make someone glow?"

Chase pointed at the menu with two fingers for the 'daily special mix drink' and made sure that the man could see his bracelet. "It does when you are a blue eco user."

"So, you want the special mix? For an eco addict, you sure aren't trying to cure yourself." He grabbed a glass from behind the counter and a few bottles. "Name's Max by the way."

Chase had never been friendly with a bar tender before but in his gut it didn't seem harmful. "Name's Chase. I'm a hypercritical engine tester."

Max pulled out two connecting glasses and poured a glass of whiskey then dumped it into one of the glasses. Following that, he added a small bottle of green eco and gave a shot of that to the mix then connected the glasses and started shaking.

"So, how about I skip the shot of blue eco since you look like you have loaded up on enough?"

Chase raised an eyebrow and shook his head. "Hell no, I want the thing that you are famous for."

Max stopped shaking the glass and disconnected them from each other before by setting it on the table. Pointing his finger at the top of the glass, the bar tender fired red eco into the glass. Then, followed it up by pulling a blue eco battery out from behind the counter and connected it to the stirring stick.

He began stirring the drink and continued the conversation. "So, there a story behind that addiction or have you just been holding it too long?"

"My friend tried to make a way to speed up races at the coliseum but put these things called eco gates too close together. Well, in order to save the racer that was testing it, I had to go down and absorb a few of the gates because they were so full of eco that they became self sustaining."

He finished stirring the drink and handed it to Chase. "What made you do it? This guy a friend of yours?"

Chase brought the drink up and took a long drink from it. The flavor was a strong sweetness that was in your face and jumped from taste bud to taste bud like electricity. It was an amazing drink and he wondered why he never heard of this place until a short time ago.

"Nah, I wasn't friends with the guy, don't really know him actually. I guess I just…"

"Saw a chance to be the hero and took it?"

He toasted to Max. "That's it. Pretty stupid, right?"

There was a moment of pause before Max turned around and walked away from him. Chase watched Max walk across the bar room over to a man in a red duster coat with his feet on the table. The man was laughing with some other guys but keeping pretty quiet compared to the rest of the group.

Max leaned over into the man's ear and whispered something to him. The man promptly stood up from his seat and walked out the door quickly without so much as a good bye to his friends. Chase turned back around after that and drank the rest of his drink and left some cash on the table to pay for it.

After that, he got up and began to walk out the door when Max stopped him halfway across the bar. "Hey, can I talk to you for a sec?"

He raised an eyebrow at Max and shrugged his hand off. "Look, I got to get back to the hospital. I'm technically not supposed to be out and I can get this guard that is watching me into a lot of trouble."

"Please, what do you owe to the Krimson Guard?"

He looked back and Max with a glare. "I could care less about the Guard. But I do care about the individual guard that was stationed at my room."

There was a quick twitch in Max's wrist and Chase was shoved over into the seat of a nearby table. "Look, buddy, there are a few things that can happen right now. More importantly, I need you to go to 937 Altwood Way in the lower slums."

"Why the hell would I do that and now?"

Max shook his head. "No, when you get your next chance. A man will be waiting there for you, his name is Brandan. He can help you with your problem."

"The eco addiction?" Chase was confused by what was going on and was beginning to think Max was insane.

"Yes, but it's not what you think it is. Just trust me and go there next chance you get."

Chase stood up and walked out the door wondering what had just gone on. If some one knows how to cure eco addiction, then why only share it with a few people. The more he thought about it, the more it sounded like a scam or a serial killer scheme.

He began walking down the road and noticed that he was able to walk a bit easier now. The only logical guess as to why was that the green eco in the drink had already got into his system and was repairing some damage along with the alcohol numbing his senses. The numbing, however, got worse than he thought when a man caught him and threw him into an alley.

Chase smashed into a dumpster and had some trash land on him. "What's your deal man?"

He looked at the man and saw that he was larger and looked to be wearing armor made of metal heads. "Shut up, what the hell are you doing out on the streets this late? You know what, I don't want to know. Empty your pockets."

Chase stood himself up and looked at the man, trying to get a good look at his face. "What the hell makes you think I have money on me?"

"Don't play coy, I saw you coming out of the Blood Diamond. Anyone who walks in there has to have at least twenty bucks on them."

Reaching into his pocket, Chas felt for his wallet but instead found his goggles. From there he reaching into his next pocket and grabbed his wallet. Slowly, he began to pull it out when he noticed someone stop their zoomer right in front of the alley and walk away.

A plan began to form in Chase's mind and he reached back into his other pocket and grabbed out his goggles. "Sorry, must have left it at the Bar."

"Doesn't matter, I can still take it out on your ass."

He took a step forward and Chase's hand went to his eco restraint. There was no way he could get past the man without a blue eco charge. His hand followed the restraint all the way around until he found a toggle switch on.

The man cracked his knuckles and took another step forward, prompting Chase to his the switch on the restraint. The glow that he was emitting grew more noticeable and he felt his hair stand up on end. He was so bright that Chase put the goggle up over his face quick and readied to run past the man.

For a moment, Chase was perplexed by what he saw. The man was moving slowly and getting ready for the punch. Taking the opportunity, he snuck by the man and hopped on the zoomer, using his knowledge of engines to hot wire it, and took off.

The zoomer was moving just as slow as the man and Chase realized that they weren't moving slow, he was moving faster than before. He hit the switch on his restraint again and caught a small glimpse of the man as he stood up confused because Chase wasn't in front of him.

Chase chuckled to himself as he flew away before falling silent when he realized he just stole a zoomer and activated his eco. That meant that the Krimson Guard would probably be looking for it and he almost killed himself. He made a quick judgment call and parked about a block before the hospital.

Something in his gut still told him that he was in trouble and it was proven correct when his communicator activated. "Chase, where the hell are you? The Baron is waiting to meet you and he's not going to wait long."

There was a second of panic before he looked up at the rain pipe and began climbing. Reflex took over and he pulled himself up the drain pipe, one hand hold at a time, the weight of lifting himself only making him want to hit the button on the restraint.

Still, he abstained from hitting the button as the full depth of what could happen set in. He had to work at it but eventually, Chase climbed in through the bathroom window. Outside the room, he heard what sounded like eight people rummaging around the room.

Panic ensued as he ripped off his clothes, remembering that he still had his goggles on. Next, he got into the clothes that the hospital gave to him and shut off the shower before heading to the door.

Surprise was the first thing Chase felt when he opened the door to see the Krimson Guard lining the room. The Baron was sitting in a chair at the foot of the bed looking very displeased with Angela.

"Ah, the Hero that took on three gates. How are you Chase?"

Chase walked over and sat on his bed. "Feeling a lot better."

The Baron sat back in his chair and weaved his fingers together and cracked his knuckles casually. "Good, good. Now, there is something I have to ask you. How did you take in as much eco as you did? I've had some… scientists telling me that what you did was impossible."

"I don't know, I just pushed myself." Chase shrugged because he had no idea what the Baron was asking. "It was like over filling a water bottle, except it keeps building up without washing out or over. I guess it's more like a balloon in that case, that has yet to burst."

The Baron leaned back and crossed his arms. "Chase, you have three more days in this hospital. After that, I am willing to pay your doctor bills in full if you will do me one favor. You will need to meet with some scientists that want to study your amazing ability to absorb eco."


End file.
